Last Thursday and Friday I spent time at Samaritana Ministries, which…for those of you who don’t know, is the prostitution ministry that works to get women out of the business of prostitution and into sustainable and successful lives living for Jesus Christ. I was able to spend time with Becky, the director of Samaritana, Kris, the outreach coordinator, and of course, the lovely ladies that have turned away from a life of working on the streets and now live for the Lord. This particular visit was a lot of talking a soul-sharing at the center. Part of this reason was because it was pouring rain outside (typical of the Philippines) and we could only do bar ministry for a short time, but part of the reason was simply because sharing our testimonies with one another is POWERFUL. It is simply astonishing hearing another person’s life story and where the Lord has lead them to and from. I am always capitivated when someone opens their life up to me and shares what has gone on in their life and I wanted to share a particular inspiring person and their story with you now.
Becky, the director at Samaritana, is someone that I aspire to be like some day. Her day to day calendar deals with counseling and pouring into women who have been tricked into prostitution and instead of serving as waitresses or receptionists in the big city of Manilla, they were forced to work in brothels and on the streets until they were rescued. Her desk job consists of her organizing intersessory prayer nights for all victims in the sex trade industry and leading Bible studies for the women at the center. She’s in charge of making sure Samaritana’s getting enough funding to keep all their sponsorship programs running (they have sponsorships for the women that have been rescued AND for the women’s children to go to school and get medical attention). She is truly a heroin in my book and I think you will agree, especially when I tell you this special story…
Becky used to be a business professor at a university in Manilla before coming to work at Samaritana. She has no background in social work, social justice, human trafficking, prostitution or theology for that matter. However, what she does have is a heart of gold and a desire to serve the Kingdom any way she can. Becky saw the great “harvest” in Manilla and how so many women were being forced into prostitution and her heart broke. She began spending time at Samaritana and after a while, she quit her job as a professor at the university and began full-time fighting to end prostitution. She is now in charge of the ministry and is working at night to get her masters in social work so she can be more knowledgeable and effective for the Kingdom and in her line of ministry. Becky went from a job that paid well, and was safe and secure, to a job that requires courage, constant sacrifice and the ability to stomache some of the darkest things this world has to offer.
This past Christmas Becky saw a particular need that her ministry could not fulfill. Instead of sitting by and waiting someone else to do something, though, Becky took action and did something to fight it. Becky saw during Friday night outreaches on Quezen Avenue (the main street that works as Quezen’s “red light district” at night) that some of the women they were ministering to began getting younger and younger to the point where they weren’t even “women” yet. Becky went up to some girls that looked like they could be twelve and Becky sat down next to them and began asking them about themselves. Turns out their mother used to prostitute herself on the same street but now that she’s not “an appealing product for the male customers” she forced her two young daughters to prostitute themselves to feed their family. The sisters were ten and twelve years old…and instead of playing soccer and going to sleepover parties, they sit on the steps in front of office buildings waiting for men to pull up in their cars and take them away for a “good time”. This is their reality, and Becky was furious about it.
Another addition factor that made Becky even more livid about the situation was the fact that “World Vision” has one of their offices in the Philippines on Quezen Avenue and the young girls usually sit outside the “World Vision” office looking to pick up customers at night. Like I said, Becky is not the type of woman to just “let things go” so she decided to contact the officials at “World Vision” and told them about the situation going on right outside their office doors in the evening. She ended her e-mail urging the office workers on Quezen Avenue to take action and help these children because while Samaritana Ministries only helps adult women get off the streets, it is “World Visions” mission statement to save and rescue children in need, including those children living in such despair that they are forced to sell themselves for sex.
Because of her e-mail, “World Vision” not only replied, but is taking immediate action to help those very girls working on the street and is partnering with the local churches in the area to provide more food, clothing, and education for those children and their families. Those girls are going to receive sponsors and stop living out a horrific nightmare night after night because of one woman, and the passion she has for getting all people–women and children, off the street.
It has been a sincere honor to have gotten to known Becky and she is such a role model to me and what following the Lord as a strong, bold and courageous women of God looks like. I have loved my time with her, hearing her stories and sharing our hearts. I pray some day the Lord brings me back to this area around Manilla so I can fight by her side to end prostitution once and for all, in Jesus’ name.
walking out in the pouring Manilla rain for bar ministry in Quezen City
Becky, the woman I’ve dedicated this blog to on the LEFT…me center and Kris on the right…
